Planning Unit Rationale

Program Planning Units are provided as alternatives to the format within the year Program.  These are suggested presentation formats specifically developed for integrated units, for teachers to build their particular plans and lessons into the explorations of the program.

The Planning Units are accessed from either the Program or the Planning Unit Directory.  The Planning Unit Directory shows all Planning Units in a table by Year Level and Text Type.

The programs each provide a sequence of explorations addressing the curriculum requirements for the entire year. Teacher planning within each unit or exploration may need to be undertaken only on a term-by-term basis or as designated by individual schools. Programs may require adjustment depending on progress to date.

WhatWhen identifies planning to be the process explaining how teachers incorporate the program into classroom practice, listing explicit lessons, exercises and resources to be used in that process. The planning units provide the skeletal base for the process of delivering the program to students. In planning, teachers individualise each “exploration” to meet the requirements of their class and their school.

While the yearly programs present concepts and understandings to be explored which are in line with ACARA requirements, and recommended text types or genres are noted, particular themes or specific texts are not identified as these will be decided by the teacher and/or the school. Also it may be desirable for some units to be incorporated into cross curricular programs, for example, Science and History oriented units.

Note in these Program Planning Units the differentiation between Australian Curriculum Resources (AC) and Classroom Resources (CR) is suggested particularly for recording that requirements by way of ACARA Codes are being met. Including the ACARA Code references in planning units allows teachers to very simply update their Requirement Registers to help authenticate their programs.

The Elaborations to the Content Descriptions have provided guidance to the construction of the yearly programs and are recommended as useful inspiration for teachers in expanding lesson planning within units.

Further Australian Curriculum Resources (AC) particularly useful in planning assistance are: Year Level Descriptions; Recommended Texts; Portfolio Samples; Achievement Standards and the Glossary.

Classroom Resources (CR) may include classroom and school library resources, school reading and spelling sub-programs, handwriting sub-programs, wall charts, routines etc. Any such resources or relevant aspects of them may be noted as aids to be used in reinforcing the lessons within the program unit.